Russian synchronized swimming star Varvara Subbotina has been forced to sit out the Olympics this summer following a nose operation but is keeping her spirits up by soaking up some vitamin D on the beach.
Subbotina, 20, added to her growing medal haul by scooping gold for her solo free routine at the European Championships in Budapest last month, but announced afterwards that she would be undergoing surgery on her septum which would rule her out of a shot at Olympic glory in Tokyo this summer.
“It’s sad to miss the Olympics, but I look at it this way: if not this time, then it will be the next. You need to take care of your health,” Subbotina said at the time.
“Doctors recommended not to swim for one and a half to two months. You have to choose – your health or sport.”
Moscow-born Subbotina later updated fans throughout her operation procedure, sharing her fears but also hopes of a recovery and prompt return to the pool.
In the meantime, Subbotina has been enjoying some rest and relaxation at one of the beaches in the Serebryany Bor region in north-west Moscow.
Delighting her Instagram following of almost 50,000, Subbotina shared images of herself in a pink bikini with the caption “Beach season is open.”
Fans lapped up the images, with typical replies featuring a series of flame emojis while others purred that Subbotina was a “goddess” and “beauty”.
The synchronized swimming star’s social media output continues to catch the eye as she shares training routine clips alongside images of her various modelling work.
Speaking to RT Sport last year, Subbotina revealed that sometimes her social media obsession lands her in hot water with her coaches.
“In 2018 we had an agreement with [coach] Tatiana Danchenko that I’ll make Instagram posts only after showing good results at competitions,” she said.
“Because I’m a huge fan of Instagram, I spend a lot of time on social networks. And my coach told me that I got distracted from training, she didn’t want me to waste energy on Instagram posts."
“I love sharing pictures from vacations and sometimes these snaps are a bit revealing. So my coach messages me saying that I should be more modest.
“She can even ask me to delete some posts. Sometimes I even send her my pictures for approval.”
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